What Were the Consequences of the Chernobyl Disaster?
Priyat, Ukraine Today
Preface
A nuclear reactor blows up, giving away miles of radiation which covered half of Europe. Hundreds of people are killed and thousands with diseases. A town abandoned for nearly twenty years and billions of dollars to revive the lands back to normal. More than a hundred times the normal radiation level, with consequences that can never totally be added up. Chernobyl Disaster occurred in Belarus, Ukraine in the morning of April 26, 1986 in a town of 50,000 residents called Pripyat. The city has been abandoned because of the radiation levels for over twenty years. It is important to notice the seriousness of what had happened and the everlasting consequences of the disaster. This project tries to tell all the consequences of the disaster in the aspects to society, environment, and the economy. The key question does that by being able to cover all sides in telling why the Chernobyl Disaster has been the most famous nuclear disaster so far.
Genre One: Research Paper
A research paper tries to inform the reader about a certain topic or point. It's main job is to help the reader understand a certain topic by providing main details backed up with specific information. It is very organized and goes straight to the main points. Unlike many other genres, research papers are highly based on detail and the information to back it up. This research paper uses a lot of statistics and information to try to tell the readers the social and also environmental consequences of the Chernobyl disaster. The reader will be able to obtain valuable information relating to the Chernobyl disaster; the event and also the problems that have shown up many years after the actual event. This research paper focuses on the impacts of diseases and the economic costs of the disaster.
The Aftermath of the Largest Nuclear Disaster
The day that changed the country forever. One cause, one event, one catastrophe. The land that will be desolate for many more years. Thousands of people forced to relocate their homes. Millions affected, and noticed as the most devastating nuclear event in history. On April 26, 1986, Pripyat, Ukraine was to become infamous in history forever. During a test at 1:21 AM, the No. 4 reactor exploded, releasing around thirty to forty times the radioactivity of the bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined (Chernobyl). This disaster, which was contributed by the flawed design of the reactor and inadequately trained workers, resulted in a radioactive nuclear waste container to explode, killing twenty-eight people within four months and fifty eight casualties that year (Chernobyl Accident). Even though more than twenty years have passed since the fatal accident, the consequences from thyroid cancer, leukemia, and economic costs have grown ever since.
A growing number, at the present of 1800 children are infected with thyroid cancer. Thyroid cancer is caused by the thyroid gland absorbing large amounts of the radioactive iodine-131, which causes it to grow uncontrollably and form a mass of cells called a tumor. (Definition of Thyroid Cancer) This type of iodine causes cells to mutate in this organ, which causes many deficiencies in hormone, and also growth of embryos, children, and adolescents. During the first ten days of the disaster, scientists measured massive increase in the level of the iodine-131, the chemical that can cause thyroid cancer, in the environment all over Belarus, and in parts of Ukraine and Russia or USSR at the time. This type of tumor was thought to be very rare in children, but because of the disaster, more than thirty times the number of children became contracted with the disease. In the view of the cases that are reported today, the World Health Organization believes that about one third of the children around the age of zero and four at the time would have developed the thyroid cancer in life, which would be around the estimated number of 50,000 children (Chernobyl - Tschernobyl - Information).
The average dose of radiation is found to be around 10-20 mSv, which stands for millisieverts, the scientific unit of measuring the amount of absorbed dose, and with the majority that received less than 1 mSv per year. By about the year 2000, 4000 cases of typhoid cancer have been found in children all around Ukraine. Many professors and scientists predict up to 10,000 additional cases of thyroid cancer for all the age groups (Chernobyl Accident). The health consequences from the Chernobyl accident are beyond imagination. The people at the time never thought of anything as catastrophic as the effects that it shows in the studies done today about the Chernobyl disaster. Some of the health organizations have reported the impacts of the accident, but since there were problems with the access of certain types of information of public health before 1986, it was very difficult to obtain reliable reports. In 1989 the World Health Organization started to raise the concerns of the radiation exposure and the health effects from this catastrophic accident (Chernobyl - Tschernobyl - Information).
From the environment that is surrounded by the radiation, scientists estimate the rise of people with leukemia due to the radiation exposure from the Chernobyl reactor exploding (Chernobyl Accident). The disease called leukemia is the condition of cells multiplying in numbers, in the bone marrow, decreasing the creation of the normal red and white blood cells. They have the effect of weakening or even destroying the body’s immune system. In Gomel, Belarus, a city extremely close to Pripyat, Ukraine, an increased rate of more than 50% of the children and aadults were recorded. There are no confirmations in the final studies of the people with leukemia in these regions, but further research is thought to be needed to draw firm conclusions about the numbers. Even without the pure information, one can say that growing health issues related to the accident are still growing, exceeding the prediction of 1986 (Chernobyl - Tschernobyl - Information).
Billions of dollars were spent on trying to get the land and the people living within the border limits to safety. The social consequences for the state and the economy were found to be around 43.3 billion US dollars in the first thirty years of the accident. In the future, the total damage is thought to add up to around 235 billion US dollars over the period of a hundred years, which is around thirty-two times the national budget for Ukraine for the year of the accident, 1985. The cost is thought to be rising every year, with the Chernobyl related costs of 22.3% of the national budget in 1991. In the radiated areas of Belarus, by the survey done by the United Nations Develop Programme and United Nations Children Fund, a total of fifty-four agricultural and forestry companies and also with nine industrial enterprises have been recorded to have failed and closed. An estimated of around twenty-two raw material deposits were no longer able to be used because of the radiation and around twenty collective farms and thirteen companies were abandoned. Billions of dollars, an unimaginable amount of money in 1985 were drained into the Chernobyl related areas in order to secure the land back to normal (Chernobyl - Tschernobyl - Information).
From the disasters of the Chernobyl accident, because of the design failure and the incapable workers, many damages to the environments and the people have been the growing cause to many countries in Europe (Chernobyl). The main consequences had been the costs and the diseases that thousands of people were affected with in the last two decades. As the years pass by, more and more people hope the land to return to normal states without radioactive chemicals, and by the contributions of many people all over the world, the process is slowly going back to how the land was before May 26, 1986.
"Definition of Thyroid Cancer." Thyroid Cancer Definition. 26 Oct. 2009 <www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=8693>.
Genre Two: Journal Entries
Journal entries are first-person written records of events or occurrences in a person's life. It is usually filled with personal emotion and tells a lot about their personal problems. Journal entries help the audience feel the guilt and pain that the writer may have had while writing the personal feeling down. These specific journal entries help the reader with in-depth information about a young teenager who lived in the city with the most impact, which had contained the Chernobyl reactors. As the job of journal entries, they are written in first-person and try to give insight directly of the life of a certain human being over a period of time. This genre helps people understand what the social consequences of the Chernobyl disaster would have been in the year 1986. People are able to notice the social problems as they are reading the diary entries and figure out the certain ideas people might have had during the days of relocating after the Chernobyl disaster.
Journal of Adam from Pripyat, Ukraine
April 24, 1986
Boom! A pistol is fired from across the street. The bullet misses an old woman and hits a car. BOOM! Another bullet is fired. Again, it misses but only by several inches. The man laughs hysterically and tells the whole neighborhood that he is going to kill her. He slowly walks towards her. She can’t move. She is scared out of her mind. She wants to run, but the legs are frozen to the floor. He gets to her. He holds up his gun at her head. He puts his index finger on the trigger. Right then, a man dives out of nowhere at the man and the bullet of the gun flies above her head, only centimeters from her arm. He’s a policeman, who has come to rescue her. Someone who had decided to dive at the killer to come to rescue at that precise moment the trigger was going to be fired. He saved her. He is a hero. The hero of her life.
This is what I would want to experience, or at least see live, right in front of me! Some action, intense scenes with a lot of suspense and a hero. Life is like the bullet of a gun. It just comes in your way and make that one hit at your heart that will make you injured or possibly dead. No matter how many bullets are fired, there are always possibilities of dodging them and a hero interfering with the situation and saving a life.
Uhh well… I guess that was a little bit too much information about what I like; the thriller, action, and suspense! I guess if I’m going to write a journal, I should start by introducing myself. My name is Adam and I am 15 years old. In my family are four people, my mother, father, brother, and I. I want to be like my father and get right into the intense problems. He is one of the best firefighters in Pripyat.
April 26, 1986
I woke up today morning to see something alarming, actually thrilling to be exact. I don't know what really happened today but all I see is smoke from the area of Chernobyl. My father went there to put out the flames created by the reactor, along with a lot of policemen. There are many helicopters flying around the area. I’m sure my dad will come home safe with the smirk on his face for killing out the evil red and yellow bright flames. When he comes home, I am going to ask him everything about it! I just can’t wait!
April 27, 1986
Is it serious? I don't really know what this is about... It has only been about twenty-eight hours since the actual incident, and it is all over the news. We are going to be forced to leave the city soon. Do I know why? No. All that I know is that my father is going to put out the fire and come back home with great news. I’ve been waiting for a long time for this action. This suspense. The feeling inside the skin that tingles every time I think about it.
April 28. 1986
Policemen came to our apartment building and told us to evacuate it for several days in order to clean up the mess created by the explosion. Ahhh yes! Today, I felt the frightened-energy of the people. We left today without father in hopes of coming back to him a few days later. Outside, my family saw groups of people walking to a bus station at the other side of the town. Hundreds of people are all just walking together blinded, not noticing what was happening to them. Cries of help and families not wanting to leave their precious apartments are yelled at the top of their lungs and I could see little children with damaged bodies crying out for their mothers. The sky was very bleak today with bits of rain drizzling down. Riding an unknown bus of some sort for several hours, we were carried into an unknown place. Behind us were at least ten more buses, with two buses in front of us. As we got off the bus, windows from many of the buildings began to open and as I looked at those people, all I saw was disgust and hate in their expressions. Intense suspense was felt all around me today. In the end, we will all live together happily, as a family again; with my dad, mom, and little brother. That is all that I want right now.
April 30, 1986
Today morning around six o’clock, I went outside to take a breath in a foggy environment, and as I was strolling in this unfamiliar environment, a man walked towards me in a disgusted manner. As I met his eyes, he whispered curse words and about how I was "contaminated." More that I walked, more of the people in the area seemed to be staring at the corner of their eyes and murmuring curse words behind me.
We are staying at a small crowded apartment with no furniture, and there was still no sign of father. My mother appeared to be ill. My brother seemed to have been in a serious car crash today. Shocked - as if he were in pain. Something, actually - everything - is not right at the moment. Where are we? Why are we here? How much longer will we have to stay here, in this unknown environment? I have so many more questions.. too many to write in this filthy notebook. I had hope that everything would go back to normal, but as I keep on thinking, I don't think anything will ever be the same as my teenage life in Pripyat. This is a hell given by God. Why is he doing this to my family? All we brought were luggage just enough for us to live for a few days, and we are stuck here with supposedly problems in my hometown. Was I wrong to think that every event would have a meaning in the future? It seems like God is punishing us for something we should have done. I don't know what I'm going to do. For the first time in my life, I feel something I’ve never faced before. I’m petrified.
May 1, 1986
What is fact, and what is fiction? I woke up today hearing loud shouting sounds from across the street. The sun didn't even seem to be up, and as I looked outside, I saw tens of people arguing, with sides divided as it looked, by the people from areas around Chernobyl, and the residents. It started with a few words such as "contaminated," "aliens," and "infected," but as a few minutes passed with loud arguments, punches were given from each side. The echo of the loud shouting could be heard from all across the neighborhood. I closed my eyes for something like five minutes and when I popped them open, I saw two people lying down on the pavement. From the clothes they had on, it was obvious that they had been the resettled people from the contaminated areas. In the small alleys between buildings, many people are smoking, and taking drugs; at least from what I see, much more than in Pripyat.
My brother hasn't said a single word in three days. This is very different from his normal behavior. Mother isn’t necessarily fine either. I think that it’s just the mental trauma that they are going through with the relocation process. I hope they get better soon.
May 5, 1986
Mental problems. Health problems. They’re EVERYWHERE! Ok.. so to describe what happened, my family - which is only my brother, mother, and I - went to the hospital to find out the reason to my brother's weird behavior. I found out that he has developed psychological problems from the radiation emitted by the Chernobyl reactor. My mother has developed a sickness, of which I believe is a type of cancer. I.. I.. I don’t know what to think or write anymore. This is too much for me to write. My emotions for my brother and my family can’t be written on paper... The horror that I’ve been going through for the last week is unbearable. I just don't know what to think anymore... I thought this was what I wanted! Something that would be suspenseful like a movie, with a good ending that would be developed from it. I don’t know. I feel like killing myself once and for all to end this mess.
May 6, 1986
Everywhere, I see problems with alcoholism, tobacco abuse, and many more, all stemming from the environment around us. I think that this is mostly from the people who had to relocate like my family. The depression and confusion coming from the sudden relocation has led people to try "new" things, which they would never have had in their previous lives.
A situation where my mother could have cancer and my brother being mentally disabled, nothing will ever turn back to normal. The negative impacts of these few days can't be turned back to normal. It's a one-way direction for me right now, and I don’t like the foreseeable outcome.
News of my father also came to me.. Tears are dripping down my eyes like an endless string. It just won't stop. The worst has happened. I just can’t believe it, but he's dead. DEAD.. from radiation poisoning by inhaling too much radioactive air. As the leader of the family now I should be handling these problems, but I don't think I can live with it anymore. I quit life. It can never get better. There is no happiness. There are no successful endings to this story. No heroes in this world of ours. For people reading this, I just don't think I will have time to write in this useless notebook containing the most dreadful memories that I will ever experience. The bullet has hit my heart. That is all I have to say. Good. Bye…
Genre Three: Newsletter
Focuses on one main topic
Tells specific details about the topic
Has many articles with specific information
Usually distributed to a specific group
A newsletter focuses on one main topic and usually tells specific detail about the topic. In this case, which is more like a newspaper than a commercial, the audience reads it for gaining knowledge and information. Newsletters are usually distributed to a specific group and in most cases, has many articles to help the audience understand a certain point. In 1986, many people from all over the world was wanting to learn more and more about Chernobyl and it's effects on society. In genre number three, the audience is able to notice some of the articles that may have been created at that time telling about the dangers in Ukraine, Russia, and Belarus after weeks of the disaster. It is a newsletter from World Daily with the issue titled Chernobyl Issues at Hand, and it's job is to tell the audience the news of a specific topic each month. It is a perfect example of how certain articles may have been written. Although the articles try to be exact, like the actual days of 1986, some of the ideas weren't one hundred percent true. The main point of the issue is to show what the consequences of the Chernobyl disaster may have been even after a month of the actual disaster. Unlike the other genres, it gives insight to the environmental and animal impacts after the disaster.
Fusco, Paul. Chernobyl Legacy. 1986. Photograph. New York City. Mediastorm:Chernobyl Legacy by Paul Fusco. Magnum Photos. Web. 26 Oct. 2009. http://mediastorm.org/0007.htm.
Through this project, I was able to learn how this disaster had affected millions of people in the world. I had always wondered what the reasons for this particular disaster to be such a famous one. From this project, I learned the true aftereffects of the nuclear disaster and the great impact that it had on the people, environment and the economy. I was also able to learn what some people were thinking and acting during this time. From the research I learned much more about the history of Ukraine and Belarus and the situations today after the disaster. From reading my project I hope I have helped give more depth of knowledge on the consequences of the Chernobyl Disaster. I hope that the readers will be able to gain much more information on the disaster and how much of an impact it had on the life around the countries of Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia.
The Catastrophe that Shook the World
What Were the Consequences of the Chernobyl Disaster?
Preface
A nuclear reactor blows up, giving away miles of radiation which covered half of Europe. Hundreds of people are killed and thousands with diseases. A town abandoned for nearly twenty years and billions of dollars to revive the lands back to normal. More than a hundred times the normal radiation level, with consequences that can never totally be added up. Chernobyl Disaster occurred in Belarus, Ukraine in the morning of April 26, 1986 in a town of 50,000 residents called Pripyat. The city has been abandoned because of the radiation levels for over twenty years. It is important to notice the seriousness of what had happened and the everlasting consequences of the disaster. This project tries to tell all the consequences of the disaster in the aspects to society, environment, and the economy. The key question does that by being able to cover all sides in telling why the Chernobyl Disaster has been the most famous nuclear disaster so far.
Genre One: Research Paper
A research paper tries to inform the reader about a certain topic or point. It's main job is to help the reader understand a certain topic by providing main details backed up with specific information. It is very organized and goes straight to the main points. Unlike many other genres, research papers are highly based on detail and the information to back it up. This research paper uses a lot of statistics and information to try to tell the readers the social and also environmental consequences of the Chernobyl disaster. The reader will be able to obtain valuable information relating to the Chernobyl disaster; the event and also the problems that have shown up many years after the actual event. This research paper focuses on the impacts of diseases and the economic costs of the disaster.
The Aftermath of the Largest Nuclear Disaster
The day that changed the country forever. One cause, one event, one catastrophe. The land that will be desolate for many more years. Thousands of people forced to relocate their homes. Millions affected, and noticed as the most devastating nuclear event in history. On April 26, 1986, Pripyat, Ukraine was to become infamous in history forever. During a test at 1:21 AM, the No. 4 reactor exploded, releasing around thirty to forty times the radioactivity of the bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined (Chernobyl). This disaster, which was contributed by the flawed design of the reactor and inadequately trained workers, resulted in a radioactive nuclear waste container to explode, killing twenty-eight people within four months and fifty eight casualties that year (Chernobyl Accident). Even though more than twenty years have passed since the fatal accident, the consequences from thyroid cancer, leukemia, and economic costs have grown ever since.
A growing number, at the present of 1800 children are infected with thyroid cancer. Thyroid cancer is caused by the thyroid gland absorbing large amounts of the radioactive iodine-131, which causes it to grow uncontrollably and form a mass of cells called a tumor. (Definition of Thyroid Cancer) This type of iodine causes cells to mutate in this organ, which causes many deficiencies in hormone, and also growth of embryos, children, and adolescents. During the first ten days of the disaster, scientists measured massive increase in the level of the iodine-131, the chemical that can cause thyroid cancer, in the environment all over Belarus, and in parts of Ukraine and Russia or USSR at the time. This type of tumor was thought to be very rare in children, but because of the disaster, more than thirty times the number of children became contracted with the disease. In the view of the cases that are reported today, the World Health Organization believes that about one third of the children around the age of zero and four at the time would have developed the thyroid cancer in life, which would be around the estimated number of 50,000 children (Chernobyl - Tschernobyl - Information).
The average dose of radiation is found to be around 10-20 mSv, which stands for millisieverts, the scientific unit of measuring the amount of absorbed dose, and with the majority that received less than 1 mSv per year. By about the year 2000, 4000 cases of typhoid cancer have been found in children all around Ukraine. Many professors and scientists predict up to 10,000 additional cases of thyroid cancer for all the age groups (Chernobyl Accident). The health consequences from the Chernobyl accident are beyond imagination. The people at the time never thought of anything as catastrophic as the effects that it shows in the studies done today about the Chernobyl disaster. Some of the health organizations have reported the impacts of the accident, but since there were problems with the access of certain types of information of public health before 1986, it was very difficult to obtain reliable reports. In 1989 the World Health Organization started to raise the concerns of the radiation exposure and the health effects from this catastrophic accident (Chernobyl - Tschernobyl - Information).
From the environment that is surrounded by the radiation, scientists estimate the rise of people with leukemia due to the radiation exposure from the Chernobyl reactor exploding (Chernobyl Accident). The disease called leukemia is the condition of cells multiplying in numbers, in the bone marrow, decreasing the creation of the normal red and white blood cells. They have the effect of weakening or even destroying the body’s immune system. In Gomel, Belarus, a city extremely close to Pripyat, Ukraine, an increased rate of more than 50% of the children and aadults were recorded. There are no confirmations in the final studies of the people with leukemia in these regions, but further research is thought to be needed to draw firm conclusions about the numbers. Even without the pure information, one can say that growing health issues related to the accident are still growing, exceeding the prediction of 1986 (Chernobyl - Tschernobyl - Information).
Billions of dollars were spent on trying to get the land and the people living within the border limits to safety. The social consequences for the state and the economy were found to be around 43.3 billion US dollars in the first thirty years of the accident. In the future, the total damage is thought to add up to around 235 billion US dollars over the period of a hundred years, which is around thirty-two times the national budget for Ukraine for the year of the accident, 1985. The cost is thought to be rising every year, with the Chernobyl related costs of 22.3% of the national budget in 1991. In the radiated areas of Belarus, by the survey done by the United Nations Develop Programme and United Nations Children Fund, a total of fifty-four agricultural and forestry companies and also with nine industrial enterprises have been recorded to have failed and closed. An estimated of around twenty-two raw material deposits were no longer able to be used because of the radiation and around twenty collective farms and thirteen companies were abandoned. Billions of dollars, an unimaginable amount of money in 1985 were drained into the Chernobyl related areas in order to secure the land back to normal (Chernobyl - Tschernobyl - Information).
From the disasters of the Chernobyl accident, because of the design failure and the incapable workers, many damages to the environments and the people have been the growing cause to many countries in Europe (Chernobyl). The main consequences had been the costs and the diseases that thousands of people were affected with in the last two decades. As the years pass by, more and more people hope the land to return to normal states without radioactive chemicals, and by the contributions of many people all over the world, the process is slowly going back to how the land was before May 26, 1986.
Works Cited
"Chernobyl - Tschernobyl - Information." Chernobyl - Tschernobyl - Information. 2 Sep. 2009 <http://www.chernobyl.info/index.php?userhash=348893&navID=161&lID=2>.
" Chernobyl Accident." World Nuclear Association - Home. 2 Sep. 2009 <http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/chernobyl/inf07.html>.
"Chernobyl'." ibiblio.org - alternative viewpoints. 2 Sep. 2009 <http://www.ibiblio.org/expo/soviet.exhibit/chernobyl.html>.
"Definition of Thyroid Cancer." Thyroid Cancer Definition. 26 Oct. 2009 <www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=8693>.
Genre Two: Journal Entries
Journal entries are first-person written records of events or occurrences in a person's life. It is usually filled with personal emotion and tells a lot about their personal problems. Journal entries help the audience feel the guilt and pain that the writer may have had while writing the personal feeling down. These specific journal entries help the reader with in-depth information about a young teenager who lived in the city with the most impact, which had contained the Chernobyl reactors. As the job of journal entries, they are written in first-person and try to give insight directly of the life of a certain human being over a period of time. This genre helps people understand what the social consequences of the Chernobyl disaster would have been in the year 1986. People are able to notice the social problems as they are reading the diary entries and figure out the certain ideas people might have had during the days of relocating after the Chernobyl disaster.
Journal of Adam from Pripyat, Ukraine
April 24, 1986
Boom! A pistol is fired from across the street. The bullet misses an old woman and hits a car. BOOM! Another bullet is fired. Again, it misses but only by several inches. The man laughs hysterically and tells the whole neighborhood that he is going to kill her. He slowly walks towards her. She can’t move. She is scared out of her mind. She wants to run, but the legs are frozen to the floor. He gets to her. He holds up his gun at her head. He puts his index finger on the trigger. Right then, a man dives out of nowhere at the man and the bullet of the gun flies above her head, only centimeters from her arm. He’s a policeman, who has come to rescue her. Someone who had decided to dive at the killer to come to rescue at that precise moment the trigger was going to be fired. He saved her. He is a hero. The hero of her life.
This is what I would want to experience, or at least see live, right in front of me! Some action, intense scenes with a lot of suspense and a hero. Life is like the bullet of a gun. It just comes in your way and make that one hit at your heart that will make you injured or possibly dead. No matter how many bullets are fired, there are always possibilities of dodging them and a hero interfering with the situation and saving a life.
Uhh well… I guess that was a little bit too much information about what I like; the thriller, action, and suspense! I guess if I’m going to write a journal, I should start by introducing myself. My name is Adam and I am 15 years old. In my family are four people, my mother, father, brother, and I. I want to be like my father and get right into the intense problems. He is one of the best firefighters in Pripyat.
April 26, 1986
I woke up today morning to see something alarming, actually thrilling to be exact. I don't know what really happened today but all I see is smoke from the area of Chernobyl. My father went there to put out the flames created by the reactor, along with a lot of policemen. There are many helicopters flying around the area. I’m sure my dad will come home safe with the smirk on his face for killing out the evil red and yellow bright flames. When he comes home, I am going to ask him everything about it! I just can’t wait!
April 27, 1986
Is it serious? I don't really know what this is about... It has only been about twenty-eight hours since the actual incident, and it is all over the news. We are going to be forced to leave the city soon. Do I know why? No. All that I know is that my father is going to put out the fire and come back home with great news. I’ve been waiting for a long time for this action. This suspense. The feeling inside the skin that tingles every time I think about it.
April 28. 1986
Policemen came to our apartment building and told us to evacuate it for several days in order to clean up the mess created by the explosion. Ahhh yes! Today, I felt the frightened-energy of the people. We left today without father in hopes of coming back to him a few days later. Outside, my family saw groups of people walking to a bus station at the other side of the town. Hundreds of people are all just walking together blinded, not noticing what was happening to them. Cries of help and families not wanting to leave their precious apartments are yelled at the top of their lungs and I could see little children with damaged bodies crying out for their mothers. The sky was very bleak today with bits of rain drizzling down. Riding an unknown bus of some sort for several hours, we were carried into an unknown place. Behind us were at least ten more buses, with two buses in front of us. As we got off the bus, windows from many of the buildings began to open and as I looked at those people, all I saw was disgust and hate in their expressions. Intense suspense was felt all around me today. In the end, we will all live together happily, as a family again; with my dad, mom, and little brother. That is all that I want right now.
April 30, 1986
Today morning around six o’clock, I went outside to take a breath in a foggy environment, and as I was strolling in this unfamiliar environment, a man walked towards me in a disgusted manner. As I met his eyes, he whispered curse words and about how I was "contaminated." More that I walked, more of the people in the area seemed to be staring at the corner of their eyes and murmuring curse words behind me.
We are staying at a small crowded apartment with no furniture, and there was still no sign of father. My mother appeared to be ill. My brother seemed to have been in a serious car crash today. Shocked - as if he were in pain. Something, actually - everything - is not right at the moment. Where are we? Why are we here? How much longer will we have to stay here, in this unknown environment? I have so many more questions.. too many to write in this filthy notebook. I had hope that everything would go back to normal, but as I keep on thinking, I don't think anything will ever be the same as my teenage life in Pripyat. This is a hell given by God. Why is he doing this to my family? All we brought were luggage just enough for us to live for a few days, and we are stuck here with supposedly problems in my hometown. Was I wrong to think that every event would have a meaning in the future? It seems like God is punishing us for something we should have done. I don't know what I'm going to do. For the first time in my life, I feel something I’ve never faced before. I’m petrified.
May 1, 1986
What is fact, and what is fiction? I woke up today hearing loud shouting sounds from across the street. The sun didn't even seem to be up, and as I looked outside, I saw tens of people arguing, with sides divided as it looked, by the people from areas around Chernobyl, and the residents. It started with a few words such as "contaminated," "aliens," and "infected," but as a few minutes passed with loud arguments, punches were given from each side. The echo of the loud shouting could be heard from all across the neighborhood. I closed my eyes for something like five minutes and when I popped them open, I saw two people lying down on the pavement. From the clothes they had on, it was obvious that they had been the resettled people from the contaminated areas. In the small alleys between buildings, many people are smoking, and taking drugs; at least from what I see, much more than in Pripyat.
My brother hasn't said a single word in three days. This is very different from his normal behavior. Mother isn’t necessarily fine either. I think that it’s just the mental trauma that they are going through with the relocation process. I hope they get better soon.
May 5, 1986
Mental problems. Health problems. They’re EVERYWHERE! Ok.. so to describe what happened, my family - which is only my brother, mother, and I - went to the hospital to find out the reason to my brother's weird behavior. I found out that he has developed psychological problems from the radiation emitted by the Chernobyl reactor. My mother has developed a sickness, of which I believe is a type of cancer. I.. I.. I don’t know what to think or write anymore. This is too much for me to write. My emotions for my brother and my family can’t be written on paper... The horror that I’ve been going through for the last week is unbearable. I just don't know what to think anymore... I thought this was what I wanted! Something that would be suspenseful like a movie, with a good ending that would be developed from it. I don’t know. I feel like killing myself once and for all to end this mess.
May 6, 1986
Everywhere, I see problems with alcoholism, tobacco abuse, and many more, all stemming from the environment around us. I think that this is mostly from the people who had to relocate like my family. The depression and confusion coming from the sudden relocation has led people to try "new" things, which they would never have had in their previous lives.
A situation where my mother could have cancer and my brother being mentally disabled, nothing will ever turn back to normal. The negative impacts of these few days can't be turned back to normal. It's a one-way direction for me right now, and I don’t like the foreseeable outcome.
News of my father also came to me.. Tears are dripping down my eyes like an endless string. It just won't stop. The worst has happened. I just can’t believe it, but he's dead. DEAD.. from radiation poisoning by inhaling too much radioactive air. As the leader of the family now I should be handling these problems, but I don't think I can live with it anymore. I quit life. It can never get better. There is no happiness. There are no successful endings to this story. No heroes in this world of ours. For people reading this, I just don't think I will have time to write in this useless notebook containing the most dreadful memories that I will ever experience. The bullet has hit my heart. That is all I have to say. Good. Bye…
Genre Three: Newsletter
A newsletter focuses on one main topic and usually tells specific detail about the topic. In this case, which is more like a newspaper than a commercial, the audience reads it for gaining knowledge and information. Newsletters are usually distributed to a specific group and in most cases, has many articles to help the audience understand a certain point. In 1986, many people from all over the world was wanting to learn more and more about Chernobyl and it's effects on society. In genre number three, the audience is able to notice some of the articles that may have been created at that time telling about the dangers in Ukraine, Russia, and Belarus after weeks of the disaster. It is a newsletter from World Daily with the issue titled Chernobyl Issues at Hand, and it's job is to tell the audience the news of a specific topic each month. It is a perfect example of how certain articles may have been written. Although the articles try to be exact, like the actual days of 1986, some of the ideas weren't one hundred percent true. The main point of the issue is to show what the consequences of the Chernobyl disaster may have been even after a month of the actual disaster. Unlike the other genres, it gives insight to the environmental and animal impacts after the disaster.
Newsletter Issue of the Chernobyl Disaster
Works Cited
Chernobyl. 1986. Photograph. Chernobyl: Cold War A Brief History. Web. 26 Oct. 2009. http://www.atomicarchive.com/History/coldwar/p21_image.shtml.
"Chernobyl: Ten Years After. Causes, Consequences, Solutions." Chernobyl: Ten Years After. Apr. 1996. Web. 25 Oct. 2009. http://archive.greenpeace.org/comms/nukes/chernob/read25.html.
"Chernobyl." World Nuclear Association. World Nuclear Association, Apr. 2009. Web. 25 Oct. 2009. http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/chernobyl/inf07.html.
"Consequences for Water and Air." Chernobyl - Tschernobyl - Information. Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation. Web. 25 Oct. 2009. http://www.chernobyl.info/index.php?userhash=&navID=18&lID=2.
"Effects on Plants and Animals." Chernobyl - Tschernobyl - Information. Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation. Web. 25 Oct. 2009. http://www.chernobyl.info/index.php?userhash=401330&navID=19&lID=2.
Evacuated and Resettled People. Digital image. Social Concequences of Chernobyl. Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation. Web. 26 Oct. 2009. http://www.chernobyl.info/img_popup.php?src=img&imageID=85&langDefID=2.
Fusco, Paul. Chernobyl Legacy. 1986. Photograph. New York City. Mediastorm:Chernobyl Legacy by Paul Fusco. Magnum Photos. Web. 26 Oct. 2009. http://mediastorm.org/0007.htm.
"How has the environment been affected by the Chernobyl accident?" GreenFacts - Facts on Health and the Environment. GreenFacts, 2009. Web. 25 Oct. 2009. http://www.greenfacts.org/en/chernobyl/l-3/3-chernobyl-environment.htm#3p0.
Preuss, Simone. "Chernobyl 1984-2009: Then and Now." Environmental Graffiti: Offbeat Environmental News, Not Hip-Hop! Environmental Graffiti, 20 Aug. 2009. Web. 25 Oct. 2009. http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/featured/chernobyl-then-now/14634.
S., E. Human Body. Digital image. Chernobyl: Cause and Effect. 4 Jan. 1999. Web. 26 Oct. 2009.
http://www.richeast.org/htwm/CHERNOBYL/Chernobyl.html.
Epilogue
Through this project, I was able to learn how this disaster had affected millions of people in the world. I had always wondered what the reasons for this particular disaster to be such a famous one. From this project, I learned the true aftereffects of the nuclear disaster and the great impact that it had on the people, environment and the economy. I was also able to learn what some people were thinking and acting during this time. From the research I learned much more about the history of Ukraine and Belarus and the situations today after the disaster. From reading my project I hope I have helped give more depth of knowledge on the consequences of the Chernobyl Disaster. I hope that the readers will be able to gain much more information on the disaster and how much of an impact it had on the life around the countries of Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia.